How long did it take you to complete or find your grail doll?

I've had two grail dolls since starting. One of which I'm still working on and it's been forever. Either I find it and can't afford it at the time, or it doesn't "exist" lol. The second is my Soom Chrom. I bought his head in 2013 and just purchased the wolf body to match this past year. It's been a long hunt! Hopefully, if you have a new grail you can find it much easier than I did.

 

over two years but still haven’t found her yet

 

I have two of my grails- Volks Luna and Kurumi. But the others are simply too expensive for me to get. At this point I'm not sure I ever will. They are Volks Lorena ans Yuu Morisawa. I have a few others on the list but there's just no way I can afford them right now or in the foreseeable future.

 

It took me 7 years to find my grail for sale. That was the first time I'd seen him for sale and I literally screaaaaaaamed. He is my precious, precious grail forever.

 

I've found my grail, and I'm watching her like a hawk, but I can't afford her yet. She's $1,500 but she's still sealed.

 

It took two years to get hold of the LLT Black Pearl that I'd painfully had to forgo during his ordering period, for financial reasons. I was soooo happy to finally bring him home, and even in the resin tone that I'd wanted - although I think I'd have settled for anything if only I could find him. It was great timing and sheer luck, because I seriously doubt that he'll be crop up many more times over the years. One of only a handful of dolls in my stupidly large collection that I cannot imagine ever parting with, no matter what.

 

It didn't take me all that long to obtain my only grail, Dollshe King Corey (it was only a matter of paying off a couple months long layaway). As far as completion goes...he's got his faceup, wig, and some clothes. I still need to either in invest in, or make shoes for him, and maybe work on designing an in-universe garb for the story-line he's a part of.

 

My first grail was a SD13 Volks Williams, and he took about a year to find~ I started the hobby in '07 and at that time he had only had one release and if he was posted for sale in the marketplace here, he was scooped up within the hour. But looking back on it now, it didn't take me long to find one... he was just insanely expensive at the time.

My grail doll now is a Luts SDF Camilla. Funny thing is I used to own her, and ironically sold her to afford my Williams!!! I thought I could get her back one day since she wasn't budging from LUTS' stock. I've probably been looking for her since 2018 with no luck. The last one on DoA was sold in 2013. If I had known at that time that Volks was going to re-release Williams 5+ times I would have kept her, but live and learn... one day I'll find her!

@Lady Ravenswood : You've piqued my curiosity, what doll took 7 years to pop up secondhand for sale?!

 

@Dybbuk
He is a Nabarro Wally
There were certainly Wallys up for sale during those 7 years, but not that I ever caught! So looking at the listing was utterly surreal. Hehe.

 

Right?!? I have had to really dig for some inner peace with it, but I have found some amazing dolls over the years so all you can do is keep searching and hope for that lucky day!

 

Been in the hobby for 4 years, and I’ve never really had a grail. I don’t really let myself get interested in dolls that have been discontinued.

 

My grail doll was a Soom Mini Gem Azur. I think I decided I had wanted him for 3 - 5 years? But I very specifically wanted the version with the human legs - all the ones I kept finding were merman only. Suddenly, in May 2020, Soom "re-released" him! I snapped him up as soon as I could! This past summer, they found more of his original release items - his wig and merman outfit. I am still hunting for his human outfit and his original release eyes. I paid a good amount to have him body blushed, his merman parts blused, and his face up.

Otherwise, it's really grail CLOTHES for me haha.

 

It took me 5 long years to find my limited Luts BabyDelf Daisy Elf with those adorable ears. At their release, I was hip deep in other layaways and just couldn’t stretch my budget any farther. But once those layaways were all paid off, I began searching in earnest everyday here in the second-hand marketplace. There were just none available for the longest time! Finally one cropped up and I snagged her, named her Fable, and continue to adore her to this day.

 

I've had three grails during my time in the hobby, but I get bored with the same old thing quickly, and for the two I did manage to buy, I think the hunt was longer than the time I kept them. One of them was a Soom Ender hybrid, and I think I looked for him for around 2 years? But the hybrid didn't work despite tons of research, I couldn't get most of the custom clothes and accessories he needed, and in the end, I felt like he was more of a disappointment and hopeless to complete, and I sold him. The other was a Volks Lucas/Chris/F-16. They're everywhere now, but at the time, they were hard to find. I think it took me 4 years to find one available and within my budget. He was adorable and came together easily, but he was a character in my roleplay, in a story that came to an end, and I lost my bond with him since he was just kind of hanging out on his own with no lasting connections.

The third is a Blue Blood Doll Phoenix. He was the first head ever sold from BBD, and was hand cast and only sold as a head. He was a prototype for Draven, but with some differences. According to the artist herself, only 2 or 3 were ever in existence. I managed to track one down, but he was not for sale and had been modded. I don't know where the other 1 or 2 are, or if they're even still in existence. It's been about 11-12 years since I first started looking for him, and honestly, with those odds, I doubt I'll ever find one. Even the other BBDs that were part of the main line for years don't pop up often on the MP anymore. I've stopped actively searching for him. If by some crazy chance one did pop up for the right price and in acceptable condition, I might grab him, but he's no longer something I'm just pining away to own.

 

One of my favorite grails took around two years. The other one took me probably four or five years, but I really loved her ever since I laid eyes on her probably ten years ago. ❤️

 

I decided that a tan Bimong N416 was going to be my character when I was either a junior or senior in high school. I found her when I was 23 so about 5-6 years to find my grail doll.

I’m sure somewhere in those years I could’ve figured out bimong’s ordering process and actually saved up, but I’m glad that I finally got her!!

 

I got started in the hobby in 2014. The 2011 Ringdoll Frankenstein was the first sculpt I ever fell in love with. It took me six years to finally find him.